Category Archives: Barrel Aged

This week we add on to show 256 where we reviewed a number of brews from Denver, Colorado, and this time we have 3 more bombers from breweries in and around Denver, and one from downstate Colorado. We’ve headed out to record this show at Church Street Brewing in Itasca, where we assembled a plethora of brewers and consumers. As well as my 2 co-hosts, Lingo and Chuck, we have head CSB brewer T.J. Bachorz,and owner Lisa Gregor, plus hovering on the perimeter is new assistant brewer L.J.

We start our show with a warm-up brew, Church Street’s Dunkel, a dark lager that segue’s nicely in to our first CO brew from Great Divide, The Smoothness. Then we work our way through some barrel-aged bombers from the Denver Beer Co., Elevation Brewing, and finally Crooked Stave. At the end hear which is our favorite!

The Brit joins up again with Mark Naski, beer consultant and BJCP judge, and we head down to Hopvine Brewing in Aurora to meet up with head brewer Ken McMullen. Our focus beers this week come from Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids, MI. 4 cans were donated by pod-guest and craft beer lover, Tom Ryan, who visited the brewery on his vacation. We have 3 Brewer’s Reserve and 1 limited edition to review, all which look to be unusual styles, but do they match up to the attractive packaging and reputation of the brewery?

To close out the session, we throw in a bottle that the Brit has been aching to open and share. From Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, CO., we have Brazzle, a golden raspberry barrel aged sour.

One of the most anticipated breweries to open in the suburbs is More Brewing Co. located in Villa Park, Il. Head Brewer Shaun Berns won a GABF Gold Medal for his chocolate stout while at Ram Brewing, and now he brings his talents to an independent brewery that offers great beers and great food.
This week, the Brit sits down with Shaun after a hard day’s brewing, and we sip a couple of brews and chat about the journey to open the new location, brewing his first beers while construction was going on, and he has an exclusive announcement about their first bottle series.

Shaun chats on other topics such as beer takeovers, pricing product, and their new canning line which is being installed as we spoke. Head over to More and find out for yourself why this brewery holds much promise for the craft beer drinker!

We also get Shaun’s opinion for an Instant Brew Review, which turned out to be a little longer that the word ‘instant’ suggests, as Sonny, one of the owners joins us to get in on the tasting. Our brew for this is Sierra Nevada’s Barrel-Aged series, Trip in the Woods, called Islay Fog, a salted caramel scotch-style ale.

Father’s Day weekend saw the official opening of Flesk Brewing in their new location in the Icebox Mall in Barrington, IL. Last year, the O’Brien brothers, Will and James, took a hiatus from brewing in their original location in Lombard after 3 years, and decided to reinvent their brewery with an expanded space, and a taproom only approach.

Phil catches up with the lads and we chat about their challenges of the move, their history, and their current brews. As a celebration of their new opening, I bring a bottle of their 2015 3rd Anniversary Grand Cru and we check how it has changed from the original bottling.

Enter from the Mall

Will O’Brien

James O’Brien

Tap Room and Sean O’Brien

New Mash Tun and Boil Kettle

Current Rotation

Handmade Bar top by Peter O’Brien

Tap Room Punters

Grand Cru 3rd Anniversary

The old freezer!

And just to make sure these guys know their beer, we also sample a bottle of barrel-aged beer from Louisville’s Against The Grain Brewery called Jackyale, ​ a double brown ale aged in bourbon barrels in honor of the greatest rock and roll band on this or any other time, Jackyl. ABV 9.5%, 35 IBU.